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Law students have always had to make strong first impressions when interviewing for summer positions. Now, with many law firms moving up the timeline for hiring 2L summer associates, those first impressions become even more crucial earlier in students’ law school careers.
We asked three Illinois law school professionals for advice for law students on navigating professional…
Continue Reading What Is Professional Attire for the Legal Profession? A Guide for Law Students

Thursday’s legal news cycle underscored how quickly the risk environment can shift for companies, litigators, and compliance teams. According to today’s reporting, seven major developments stood out across court rulings, criminal matters, enforcement activity, and broader institutional changes affecting the legal system.

What makes this collection of stories notable is not simply volume, but range. On one end are decisions…
Continue Reading AP’s Nov. 5 Legal Roundup Signals a Busy Day for Courts, Enforcers, and Corporate Counsel

A federal appeals court has revived the jury’s antitrust verdict in the long-running NFL “Sunday Ticket” litigation, putting one of the most closely watched sports-antitrust battles back on center stage. The decision restores significant leverage to the subscriber plaintiffs after the trial court had set aside the jury’s damages award, and it reopens the prospect of massive exposure tied to…
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Reinstates Pressure in NFL Sunday Ticket Antitrust Fight

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York announced that Daniel Sikkema has been sentenced to life in prison for the January 14, 2024 murder of his husband, prominent art dealer Brent Sikkema, in Rio de Janeiro. U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos imposed the sentence in a case that drew significant public attention because of the victim’s profile, the…
Continue Reading SDNY Murder-for-Hire Case Ends in Life Sentence for Daniel Sikkema

Photo credit: Illinois Lawyers’ Assistance Program
Key points:

  • One in five Illinois lawyers rated their mental health as fair or poor in a new study sponsored by the Illinois Lawyers’ Assistance Program
  • Of this number, 32% said they had experienced suicidal ideation in the past year
  • 66% of lawyers said their workplaces negatively impact their mental and physical health and

…
Continue Reading 1 in 5 Illinois Lawyers Report Negative Mental Health, Illinois LAP Study Finds

I’m always interested in Clio’s Legal Trends Report that comes out at its vendor’s conference. Clio has lots of data from its customers and otherwise and the Report is always informative. What stood out this year was counterintuitively, billable hours are up not down in the age of AI. I had been thinking that hours should be going down. So I…
Continue Reading Clio Says AI Is Boosting Billable Hours: Maybe I Was Wrong. Or Maybe Not

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Key points:

  • Clio’s annual Legal Trends Report provides analysis of legal services industry based on law firm operating data, surveys of legal professionals and consumers, and qualitative interviews.
  • 85% of legal professionals surveyed said firms have adopted some level of AI, with half saying firms allow and encourage its use.
  • Firms are finding more ways to bill

…
Continue Reading Lawyers Are Billing More Time as AI Adoption Grows, According to 2026 Clio Legal Trends Report

At Generative Legal’s Cornell Tech conference, panelists discussed how AI is reshaping legal business models, from law firms embedding their expertise in software to legal teams fighting decision paralysis in a crowded tech market.
Continue Reading Generative Legal's Cornell Tech Conference: ‘Productizing' Legal Work in the AI Age

A new inter partes review, IPR2027-00029, has been filed at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on October 30, 2026, in a proceeding titled Shining 3D Tech Co., Ltd. At this early stage, the docket signals the opening of a potentially important dispute for companies operating in the 3D scanning, additive manufacturing, and digital modeling space.

Based on…
Continue Reading New PTAB Challenge Filed in IPR2027-00029 Involving Shining 3D Tech

Photo credit: Melissa Kallio
Our Professionalism Spotlight series highlights Illinois legal professionals who demonstrate the ideals of professionalism in their careers.
In this Professionalism Spotlight, we spoke to Melissa Kallio, a Partner at Dutton Casey & Mesoloras, P.C. Her practice focuses exclusively on helping individuals navigate the legal and financial challenges of aging and disability, including Medicaid planning, adult guardianship, estate…
Continue Reading Professionalism Spotlight: Melissa Kallio, Dutton Casey & Mesoloras, P.C.

A federal judge in Massachusetts has dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking to compel Harvard University to produce years of applicant-level admissions records as part of an investigation into whether the school continued to use race-conscious admissions practices after the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions.

The ruling is notable less for what it…
Continue Reading Massachusetts Judge Throws Out DOJ Bid for Harvard Admissions Data